It's All the Work of God

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the
great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal
covenant, even Jesus our Lord, 21 equip you in every good thing to
do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 But I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation,
for I have written to you briefly. 23 Take notice that our brother
Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes soon, I will see
you. 24 Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. Those from
Italy greet you. 25 Grace be with you all.

The Christ We Have Seen in Hebrews

On March 31, 1996, we began our preaching series on the book of
Hebrews. Today, eighteen months later, we end it. For my part, it
has been one of the high plateaus of my 17-year journey at
Bethlehem. I have seen Christ and savored his supremacy over and
over again. I have come near to him and spoken with him and enjoyed
him and worshipped him

as the final Word of God in these last days (1:2),

as the Creator of the heavens and earth whom angels worship
(1:6,10),

as the Pioneer of our salvation who was made perfect through
suffering (2:10),

as one who became flesh that he might die in our place and free
us from the fear of death (2:14f),

as one superior to Moses as a son is superior to a servant
(3:5f),

as a sympathetic High Priest who opens the way to the throne of
grace (4:14-16),

as one who saves for all time those who draw near to God
through him (7:25),

as the Mediator of a new blood-bought covenant to secure that
our sins will be forgiven and the law will be written on our hearts
and that God will be our God (8:10-12),

as the one who by his blood purifies our consciences from dead
works to serve the living God (9:14),

as the one who put an end to all sacrifices by putting away sin
once for all through the sacrifice of himself (9:26),

as the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, despised the shame and sat down at
the right hand of God until all his enemies are made a stool for
his feet (12:2; 1:13),

as the one who suffered outside the gate that he might sanctify
the people by his own blood (13:12),

as the one who will never leave us or forsake us but will help
us forever by the power of an indestructible life (13:5-6;
7:16).

In these months together in Hebrews, Christ has revealed himself
to us again and again for our encouragement and our hope and our
perseverance, so that we might have strength and love to meet
together and stir each other up to live well and to die well by
faith, which is the assurance of things hoped for.

I want to end this series with an special invitation at the end
of this service for people to come to the front and receive a
prayer that God would preserve and complete the work he did in your
life during this series of messages. I'll mention the seven
categories of people I will invite to come so that you can be
thinking and praying about whether you should come. If God has done
one or more of these things for you through his word in Hebrews, I
hope you will come at the end of this service.

Those who have been converted to Christ, and have been brought
to saving faith in him.

Those who were straying or drifting toward destruction and have
been awakened and brought back to a serious pursuit of God.

Those who were enabled to renounce some besetting weight or sin
and get some new measure of victory over it.

Those who have been restored in a relationship that was
broken.

Those who came to a major new way of viewing the world - some
significant new insight into the nature of God or his ways - that
has changed the way you think.

Those who have entered a crisis in your lives and found
strength to carry on for Christ's sake.

Those who have heard a call to missions or some vocational
change for kingdom purposes.

Farewell Blessing

But to get us ready for this ending, let's look at this writer's
farewell blessing. What does he want us to leave with? What does he
want to bless us with and to pray into our lives? And when I say
"us" I mean those who, imperfect as we are, and prone to wander,
and stumbling daily, nevertheless have seen enough of Jesus to put
our trust in his promises and our lives in his hands. To you who
have done that - or who will do it as I speak this morning, he
gives you these six things:

1. You have a God of peace.

Verse 20: "Now the God of peace . . ."

He is at peace with himself and at peace with you. O how many of
you wish you had had fathers who were at peace with themselves! But
they were tormented. They were divided and torn and frustrated and
double-minded and distant and angry. The peace of Christ did not
rule in their hearts. And they did not bear the peaceable fruit of
righteousness in the family. There was tension and stress and
sadness and fear and uncertainty, and no sweet, happy, relaxed,
secure peace. You wanted that, even if you didn't know it. And you
didn't get it.

And the promise as we end the book of Hebrews is: Now you have
it. Your Father in heaven is a God of peace. He is at peace with
himself and he is at peace with you. He is like a great ocean, calm
in himself, and he gave his Son to suffer in our place so that we
might have an eternal family of peace.

2. You have a deathless Shepherd.

Verse 20: "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead
the great Shepherd of the sheep . . ."

Nowhere in this book until this very moment has the writer
called Christ a "Shepherd." But now, as he takes his leave, as it
were, and puts us into the hands of another, he says, "You have a
Shepherd - to lead you and to protect you. And he is no ordinary
Shepherd. He is raised from the dead and therefore cannot die again
and cannot therefore be defeated by any foe.

Therefore, if you will trust him and follow him, you will be
safe. The great danger this book is written to warn against is that
we would drift away from the flock of God and choose another
shepherd besides Jesus. That would be folly. For there is no other
who can lead us to green pastures and still waters - to God's right
hand where there are pleasures for evermore.

3. You are bound to God by a blood-bought, eternal
covenant.

Verse 20: "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead
the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal
covenant, even Jesus our Lord . . ."

This is a reference back to the new covenant in chapters eight
and ten. When Christ died, he sealed for God's elect a covenant
that will last forever and will never be broken. It is God's pledge
to give us eternal salvation (5:9), eternal redemption (9:12), and
eternal inheritance (9:15). And what makes it eternal and
unspeakably superior to the old covenant is that God swears on the
blood of his Son that not only will he keep his side of the
covenant, but our side as well. So the writer says in the fourth
place that . . .

4. You have a God who equips you to do his will.

Verses 20-21: "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the
dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the
eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good
thing to do His will . . ."

His covenant with you is eternal and sure because he does not
leave you without resources to do his will. He provides you with
what you need to keep your side of the covenant, namely, faith that
works itself out in love.

But someone might say, "Oh yes, he gives resources, but we must
put those resources to use. He gives us the word, and the church,
and prayer, and suffering, but we must respond in faith to keep our
side of the covenant, and be pleasing to him. So the covenant is
only as sure as we are strong." But this is not true. Because the
writer says, in the fifth place . . .

5. You have a God who works in you what is needed to please
him.

Verses 20-21: "Now the God of peace, who brought up from the
dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the
eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good
thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His
sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.
Amen."

He wants to leave us with no mistake and no uncertainty that our
covenant relationship with him is eternal. So he reminds us that
the very essence of the new covenant, and what makes it new, is
that God keeps his side, and God keeps our side. He not only equips
you with resources for doing his will, he "works in you what is
pleasing in his sight," namely, persevering faith - for "without
faith it is impossible to please God" (11:6). He causes us freely
and joyfully to use the resources he gives.

You are secure not because you are strong, but because God is
sovereign and because God is faithful to his new covenant promises.
"I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes" (Ezekiel 36:27). All the exhortations to persevere in
this book God will fulfil in those who are his. This is my only
hope to be a faithful minister of the gospel and a Christian
until
I die.

Finally, in verse 25 he sums it all up.

6. You have the promise of all-sufficient future grace.

Verse 25: "Grace be with you all."

In other words, as I take leave of you, I hand you over to the
abundance and power of future grace. The grace of divine peace, the
grace of a deathless Shepherd who guards and guides you, the grace
of an eternal covenant that secures an unbreakable relationship,
the grace of God's commitment to equip us with all the resources we
need to do his will, and finally - lest any of his own ever be lost
- the grace of God to work in us what pleases God. This grace be
with you.

To Jesus Be Glory Forever and Ever

And so, that is what I want to pray onto you this morning as we
close. I want the Lord to get the glory for what he has done in
these eighteen months of savoring his Son in Hebrews. Did you see
that phrase in verse 20: ". . . through Jesus Christ, to whom be
the glory forever and ever. Amen"? The point of all this grace is
that Jesus receive glory. That is the ultimate point of the book
and the Bible and the universe - the glory of Christ and through
him, the Father.

So I think it is right to put some of his work on display this
morning by asking you to come forward. I know that in one sense we
could all come. The word of God preached in the power of the Spirit
has good effects in all the children of God.

As you come we are going to sing "Knowing You." Bring your
worship folder with you so that you can sing this song as your song
of consecration to the Lord as the greatest value in your life, and
your readiness to go with him outside the camp.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books.

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